


above all else, a god needs compassion

by nereid



Series: the corona collection [3]
Category: Motherland Fort Salem, Motherland: Fort Salem
Genre: Gen, background Raelle Collar/Scylla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23409067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nereid/pseuds/nereid
Summary: When they find out, mere weeks later, that Scylla is Spree, well - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Relationships: Abigail Bellweather & Tally Craven & Raelle Collar
Series: the corona collection [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667455
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	above all else, a god needs compassion

**Author's Note:**

> Written post 1x02. I meant to write sth more Scylla-oriented, but Tally distracted me.
> 
> Title is a quote from Star Trek The Original Series.

Tally is strong. 

Abigail and Raelle think they are strong, which is not untrue, but they are other things, too, which interfere with this strength in ways Tally doesn't have to deal with. This seems like a shame, would seem like a shame, what could be forces of nature instead tempered with - well, being human, but Tally is far from seeing it like that. She might be a Commander, in a decade, hardened by the Spree and the indifference of the world to a witch's plight, but she still sees people before she sees anything else.

Abigail is a legacy, and Abigail's mother is a constant source of pressure, and Tally can't really tell with Abigail when her emotions are real - if this can even be applied to Abigail, and when it's just a soldier front that Abigail probably learnt to put up before Tally learnt anything about witches, or maybe even before she learned to walk. This, Tally thinks, is what makes Abigail just a little bit weak. And she adores the girl, a week into their training, and she already does - Tally's easy with her heart like that, but Abigail's pretense wastes precious energy, as well as reaction time, and pretending you don't care never made any unit stronger for it.

Raelle is different. Raelle explodes occasionally and, Tally speculates, implodes even more often. It feels like anger, that's the closest Tally can get to, or maybe rage is an even better word. Tally knows a bit about coming here against your family's wishes, and she knows something about coming here with a history of dead soldiers in your bones, and maybe the latter is why she finds it a bit easier to get Raelle, at least some parts. The late night sneaking in and out of their dormitory, well that's a mystery for another day.

Until, well - the mystery's resolved, at least in part, a shape and a face put to Raelle's nightly escapades. Tally likes her - she says as much, and Raelle says that she does as well. Everyone laughs at this, and it's a nice, comfortable sort of thing for a group of war-struck teenage girls to laugh about, so Tally doesn't clarify out loud, and there's probably no need.

_For you. I like her for you._

Abigail is less conducive to warming up to Scylla, pretends to forget her name (or maybe forgets her name? how far do Abigail's attempts at self-control at every pace go?), calls her only Necro, though she protests having to call Scylla anything at all. Tally would like them all to hang out, is more than ready to reach with open arms towards Scylla and welcome her into their a-bit-unstable-but-we're-working-on-it unit. She only mentions this out loud once. Abigail flat out refuses to look at her and probably rolls her eyes, or fixes her hair, or tries to retain control over something, but Tally is more busy looking at Raelle, whose face is a mixture of want and hesitance, before she flips her hair and lifts her chin and says something that sounds like agreement and postponement, but is really a silent refusal.

Well, it's not up to Tally to be the one to push this, so she won't. 

When they find out, mere weeks later, that Scylla is Spree, well - the more things change, the more they stay the same.

They're on the way to their room, after Scylla manages to get away, after Raelle nearly blasts half-a building away, after Tally and Abigail have stopped her. Raelle seems like she's barely aware of her surroundings, a person reduced to the function of putting one foot in front of the other and not collapsing, and Abigail's fists are clenched at her sides, and Tally is trying to figure out how to best let this play out. Before Tally quite figures this out, they are back in their room, and Abigail's pressed Raelle into the hard wall, forearm pushing into Raelle's neck, her eyes a warning. Raelle doesn't fight back, depleted, does not even look at Abigail's eyes death-glaring at her, and Abigail finally notices, because she asks - nay, demands: "Raelle, look at me!"

Tally stays quiet, just close enough to react if Abigail actually tries anything - which Tally feels she wouldn't, but well, you never know, and she'd be more worried about Raelle's reaction if Raelle looked as if she were half-way here.

"The unit, Collar. If you'd shared some of your worries about Scylla earlier, perhaps this might have been prevented." 

Tally laughs, and tries to cover up the sound and motion with her hands. Both Raelle and Abigail turn their heads toward her, Raelle slower than Abigail.

"What's with you?" Abigail asks.

"The way you pressed Raelle to the wall did not make me believe we'd have a sharing is caring lesson coming our way."

Tally can see Abigail wants to protest, and she hopes - for all of their sake's, that it's because she turns back to look at Raelle that she stops herself. They've not had a syllable out of Raelle since everything's happened. And Abigail looks at her as if she's only now noticing - the traces of tears, dirt from the fall, some scratches, nothing bad, but there. Abigail lets out a long sigh and releases Raelle.

"Go take a shower. I'll get some tea for us from the kitchen, the kitchen staff likes me."

Abigail leaves the room, and Tally crosses the space between herself and Raelle in two long strides.

"Are you okay - do you want me to -- something?" Tally asks, takes Raelle's hands in hers, gentle.

"Thanks, but I think I'll be fine. And shower first, definitely."

Tally nods. Raelle's in the shower when Abigail comes back with a tray, tea and some chocolate-looking cookies on it.

Tally chuckles. "You brought cookies, that's nice."

Abigail, who seems back to her usual eye-rolling self, says: "Didn't even ask for them. Told you the staff likes me."

Tally pretends to believe this, and lets it go.

Raelle's out of the shower fairly soon.

There's not much to talk about, not really, and it's a bit awkward, but it could've been worse, and they all know that, and at least they're together, and Tally hopes that'll be enough to make them all strong.


End file.
